


for the first time, i'm singing hallelujah

by wolfchester



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: F/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, but he doesn't know a good thing when he's got it, clint needs to get his head on straight, clint's a sweetheart, kate bishop has daddy issues, kate needs a hug, this isn't great but i needed to write major cliche hawkeye fluff soooooo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 16:04:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1863876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfchester/pseuds/wolfchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's looking at the stars and he's looking at her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	for the first time, i'm singing hallelujah

**Author's Note:**

> this is complete and utter tooth-rotting hawkeye fluff. it's so bad that you'll probably need to go to the dentist to get a filling after reading it. oh well, i had fun.
> 
> basically a bunch of clint being adorable and kate sharing her life story. yeah.
> 
> this is what you get when you listen to ed sheeran and open up a new word document. oops.

“My dad used to take me up on the roof to watch the stars when I was little,” Kate says, legs swung over the balcony and kicking against the wall below. “Back when mom was still alive.”

She’s talking about her past, and Clint knows this is a dangerous topic. A lot has happened to Katherine Bishop in the last few years--good and bad. Clint likes to think teaming up with him was one of her best decisions yet (although he knows that’s probably not the truth). All he really knows is that there’s some parts of her life Kate hasn’t shared with him yet, and probably won’t ever. It’s okay, though. He just listens to her talk.

“He’d point out the constellations to me,” she continues. “Show me the Big Dipper and the Lion and he used to make up a bunch, too. It was a Kate-and-Dad thing. He never took Susan out to the roof, and I don’t know, it made me feel special. That we had this secret thing to do that no one else knew about.”

She pauses for a second, arching her back and stretching her muscles before lying down on the cold concrete next to him. “When mom died, dad stopped taking me out to the roof. I tried to get Susan to come out with me a few times, even though it would’ve broken the sacredness of the star-gazing, but she always thought it was stupid. Always had better things to do than just sit and watch little unmoving specks in the sky. ‘Like watching paint dry,’ she said.” Kate laughs softly. “I wonder if she knew that the largest star is said to be 4,900 light years away from the earth. So, if you are looking at it now, you are actually seeing how it was 4,900 years ago. It’s like being able to look back in history. A literal time machine.”

It’s a long time before she speaks again. She just lies there on the ground, hands intertwined on her stomach, dark hair falling around her head like a halo. Katie’s beautiful, and Clint wonders if she knows this. He almost considers telling her, but she opens her mouth to talk again and he saves the thought for another time.

“It’s stupid, but whenever I look at the stars, I feel close to my mom. It’s stupid because she never even came to watch them with me. I should think of my dad when I look at them, but I don’t. My dad isn’t the same as he was back then. I hardly recognise him anymore. I mean, I still love him, but he’s not the man I used to watch growing up and wanted to be like.” She sighs now, reaching for Clint’s hand. He’s surprised, but he lets her take it. Strokes her knuckles with his thumb and feels her relax under his touch.

“Everything’s different, now,” she says quietly. “Susan’s gone and married, dad’s got a new young wife who probably graduated like a year before me, and I’m-” Kate turns to look at Clint, a smile twitching at her lips. “I’m here. I’m Hawkeye and you’re Hawkeye and even though you use up all the water in the shower in the mornings--you’re good for me, Clint.”

He almost laughs at that, because, really, Katie? He’s a complete screw-up who does nothing with his life except eat pizza, feed his dog (he forgets to do that most of the time, though) and occasionally go out to fight bad guys. Nothing special. Nothing worth of a girl like Katie-Kate.

Kate sees his hesitation at her comment and turns her body over so she’s facing him. “I’m serious, Clint,” she whines, tightening her grip on his hand and furrowing her eyebrows in an adorably frustrated expression. “You’re good for me. You give me adventure. Get the blood pumping through these pretentious-rich-white-girl veins.” Okay, so he does laugh at that. “You give me a reason to get up in the mornings. To grab my bow and load my arrows and kick some Megacrime butt.” She grins and turns away from his face, back to the sky. “You give me a reason to look at the stars again. And I love you for it.”

They’re silent for a very long time. The silence is almost suffocating for Kate, yet peaceful for Clint. He’s just lying there, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles again, watching Kate’s face while she keeps her eyes focused on the stars above. After a while, she cracks.

“Clint?!” She bursts out, sitting up straight and letting go of his hand and tucking her knees into her chest. She looks like a scared little cat and Clint can’t help but smile. “Clint, you idiot. Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Katie-Kate,” he says softly, after some deliberation. “You’re the only good thing I’ve got in my life right now. And I gotta protect the stuff I got the best way I know how.” He sits up on the concrete and mimics Kate’s posture. “I’m screwed up, Kate. You know that. I can’t screw you up, too.”

“Clint,” she replies, eyes soft and sad. “Clint. Do you really think _you_ can ruin _me_? I’m twenty-one years old, honey. I make my own decisions.”

“But what if those decisions end up being the wrong ones?” Clint debates. “What if you end up getting killed in battle because you just _had_ to go back for me, trapped inside some fricking burning building in Lower Manhattan, and I got out somehow but you didn’t, and Spiderman had to tell me at the funeral that you died trying to save me, and I never knew, and I beat myself up for it every day of the rest of my life until I’m an old man and the Avengers have to put me to sleep because all I do is drink beer and wallow in self pity? What then?”

He’s out of breath from his very serious, very thought-out monologue, and Kate’s--Kate’s laughing at him?

“Hey!” he frowns. “I’m serious!”

She’s still laughing at him, and there’s so much joy radiating from her that he can’t help but smile, too. “I can tell you put a lot of thought into that situation,” she giggles, “but I can assure you that it’s never gonna happen.” Kate slides closer to him, reaches out a hand to touch his face, the stubble on his chin, a scar on his cheek. “I’m invincible, baby.”

“Katie-Kate,” he breathes. “What will I ever do without you?”

Kate leans in to kiss him, pausing a hairsbreadth away from his lips. “Let’s hope we never have to find out.”

 

**end**


End file.
